Can't seem to get traffic back post Panda / Penguin. WHY?

[mark_baird]

I have done and am doing everything I can think of to bring back lost traffic after the late 2012 updates from google hit us. I just is not working.

We had some issues with our out of house web developers which screwed up our site in 2012 and after taking it in house we have Eden doing damage control form months now. We think we have fixed pretty much everything.

• URL structure
• filling up with good unique content(under way. Lots still to do)
• making better category descriptions
• redesigned homepage.
• Updated product pages (CMS is holding things back on that part otherwise they would be better. New CMS under construction)
• started more link building(its a real weak spot on our SEO as far as I can see)
• audited bad links from dodgy irelavent sites.
• hired writers to create content and link bait articles.
• Begun making high quality video's for both YouTube (brand awareness and viral) and on site hosting (link building and conversions) (in the pipeline not online yet).
• Flattened out site architecture.
• optimise internal link flow (got this wrong by using nofollows. In the process of thinking of a better way by reducing nun wanted Nav links on page.)

i realise its not all done but I have been working ever since the drop in traffic and I'm just seeing no increase at all.

I have been asking a few questions on here for the past few days but still can't put my finger on the issue.

Am I just impatient and need to wait on the traffic as I am doing all the correct things? Or have I missed something and need to fix it.

you anyone would like to have a quick look at my site and see if there is an obvious issue I have missed It would be great as I have been tearing my hair out trying to find the issues with my site. It's www.centralsaddlery.co.uk

Criticism would me much appreciated.

[TakeshiYoung]

Is it Panda or Penguin you've been hit with? With Penguin it's necessary to submit a reconsideration request after you've removed your low quality links. Your rankings may not immediately recover because you removed links that were previously benefiting you, so it's necessary to build new links.

Panda is a lot trickier to recover from. Only a small percentage of sites that were hit by Panda have recovered. Mainly the penalty hit sites with massive amounts of thin content, so if you have a lot of low quality or duplicate content, you need to replace it with unique, original content. There are no real shortcuts here, but you can work with 3rd party content brokers to help you with process.

[mark_baird]

I'm not sure exactly but I think it's more Panda as we have not had the best content in the past. If we just keep on slogging through with more content is that the best plan? If so I'm happy to do so. I just need to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. would also like to be sure that everything else a pout our site is as good as can be.

[TakeshiYoung]

Check SEOMoz's Google algo change history:

http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change

If you were hit by Panda or Penguin, you should see a cliff-like drop on or within a day of the dates listed in the document. Panda & Penguin are completely different penalties, so recovering from them requires knowing which one it was.

Of course there could be other issues with your site as well, it's hard to say without more info.

[mark_baird]

We didn't get an instant hit. It was a 50-60% drop spread from aug to end of feb in a pretty steady downward slope. It has been pretty level from feb until now. That's why I'm a bit unsure of the reason for the drop. I havlocal ready cross referenced the google updates and there is a rough coronation between the updates and the start of the declin but nothing concert.